What amuses, annoys, concerns or otherwise interests me – Noodlemaz

Tag Archives: Olympics

This makes me very, very angry.

Originally posted via Storify

The victim in the Ched Evans rape case was relocated and given a new identify because people took it upon themselves to judge her a liar, him and his friends heroes because he kicks a ball for lots of money – they harassed her relentlessly.

There’s been a lot of coverage of the #Pistorius trial. A man who shot Reeva Steenkamp through a door in their home, who was feared by her and her loved ones before the act but that’s apparently not relevant.

Oscar Pistorius will be allowed to compete in the future after being found guilty of the culpable homicide of his girlfriend. The South African double amputee runner was said to have acted “negligently” when he fired shots through a toilet door, killing Reeva Steenkamp, but in the “belief that there was an intruder”, judge Thokozile Masipa said in her verdict in Pretoria.

#Gamergate sees Zoe Quinn harassed by gamers because her ex saw fit to tell the world she slept with games journalists, and people claimed she “did it for reviews” (and it seems she didn’t – and anyway, personal lives should be just that, no?), covering their blatant misogyny with accusations of “corruption in journalism”.

Y’know what fucks me off about the likes of Pistorius, Ched Evans et al (apart from their criminal acts & pain they caused): hypocrisy.

Man is convicted of a crime but, Society: “Well he’s paid for it, work & personal life are separate, he has value, let it go”

Woman is accused by ex-lover and random guys of having consensual relationships loosely related to work “OMG CORRUPT BITCH GET LOST”
And people hound women, harass them, until they leave their industry, their career. Because their personal lives are up for public scrutiny.

This sexist, hypocritical bollocks fills me with pure rage. That these pathetic people are listened to when their hateful motivation is clear.

And abusive, dangerous men are let back out into society, back into their positions of power, to reoffend, to hurt more people. Because men.

@noodlemaz Not to mention boys in college frat houses getting away with rape because it might harm their promising sports careers.

In all these cases we are told the men deserve due process, reserve judgement, and all too often they are allowed back into their roles in public life, roles that carry responsibility, prestige, huge earnings, opportunities to repeat offend and ruin more lives.

But the women? No, the women can’t be trusted. They’re lying bitches, they had it coming, they can just stop listening to the abuse if it bothers them that much, but these industries aren’t for them anyway.

Can we stop this?

Links

A South African minister has said the acquittal of athlete Oscar Pistorius of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp is “extremely disappointing”. Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga told the BBC she thought the judgement was “based on technicalities, not on facts”. Ms Steenkamp’s parents have also said “justice was not served”.BBC

Does a footballer stop being a footballer when he’s a rapist? That’s the question being bandied around this week in relation to the former Sheffield United player Ched Evans. The 25-year-old sportsman was convicted of rape in April 2012, jailed for five years and is due to rejoin society in October. HOLLY BAXTER

“The graphic and specific death threats I have received have been terrifying.It’s really just about hurting women, which they have been quite good at. Four women, I think, have withdrawn [from the gaming industry] now saying it’s not worth it.” But trolling women is not what gamers claim that ‘GamerGate’ is all about. RADHIKA SANGHANI

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time and after a loooong writing break, am finally getting around to it. It’s long, but I hope it’s worth it.

We can make it happen.

I went to Russia a few years ago. It was a great holiday, and I was hopeful about a return trip someday. However, developments since Putin somehow managed to retain his presidency have basically removed that option.

It is hard to say exactly why the “Gay propaganda law” has been put in place. A common (but not universally accepted) suggestion is that one goal of a ruler who wants to keep their power is to suppress views they do not like, and that’s precisely where these laws come from, pandering to the “traditional” views of some of the people, and the church. Create scapegoats that aren’t you, but some imagined “other” that are a real threat to your livelihood. In this case, it’s “protect children from things that might make them gay” – obviously based on a fundamental misunderstanding of both sexual orientation and what’s important for young people*.

It’s a lot of stuff in a sort of web of thoughts I’ve been having and I just hope it makes some sense. Please comment to extend it further – the point of this is to be thinking and talking about it! You can skip to the end for the bottom line if you want, and some of the explanation/example-giving is in between.

I’m going to use a lot of ‘being a dick’ type phrases; I know that’s gendered in nature, but it’s my sum-up of ‘people doing/saying things I consider inappropriate/unacceptable and would rather didn’t happen’ – it’s for space and time-saving purposes. And men aren’t routinely belittled as women are, so don’t argue with me that it’s the same as ‘being a c***’ or something like that. Another post entirely.

Gonna go all topical today, because why not – and Twitter’s 140 character limit is annoying me, which is rare.

You may or may not have heard about the new “witch-hunt” (though I’d prefer not to call it that): a young man who goes by the alias of @Rileyy69 being arrested this morning.

This followed his abusive tweets to team GB diver Tom Daley last night after he and his partner unfortunately missed out on a medal in the synchronised diving.

He started by telling the diver he’d disappointed his dad. What wasn’t known to him at the time was that Daley’s father actually succumbed to a brain tumour last year – so, add insensitive to offensive there. Teenagers, eh?

However, such is the nature of Twitter – Daley’s sharing of this admittedly vitriolic stuff led to wider awareness of his behaviour and even a mention on Sky News! Mr. 69 was not pleased about this, to say the least, and his timeline turned into a rather sweary, threatening affair, apparently including a wish that Daley would drown in a pool. Could possibly be considered a death threat, though I haven’t seen the actual tweet and whether he threatened to do this himself – or if it was, rather a deathwish (neither of which are pleasant but I’m sure we agree a threat is much worse). [Edit: ok, it looks like a threat]

For anyone who was unaware, I am in the process of finishing my PhD. The gigantic document/book is handed in, my exam (viva) is next week. After that you may call me Dr Noodlemaz.

Anyway, there’s a point to me banging on about that. Firstly, I hope to get posting a bit more regularly again soon, when I’m back in the swing of things. Secondly, with PhD-getting celebrations imminent, I’ve got around to deciding when and where I want gatherings of friends to be merry with.

Unfortunately, because I live in London, the best weekend for all of this has fallen on the sodding Olympics opening weekend.